Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives [Hardcover]

Spencer Crew (Author), Cynthia Goodman (Author), Henry Louis Gates (Contributor), Henry Louis Gates Jr. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2003

Unchained Memories is a riveting compilation of more than forty narratives drawn from interviews with former slaves conducted in the 1930s by the government's Works Progress Administration. The book is an adaptation of HBO's documentary special for 2003, also titled Unchained Memories . From slave auctions to emancipation, the narratives trace the extraordinary experiences of lives spent in slavery.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set to air February 10, the HBO documentary chronicled by this book (and sharing its title) is narrated by Whoopi Goldberg and features dramatic readings by Samuel L. Jackson, Ossie Davis, Oprah Winfrey and others, while a traveling exhibition has been organized by the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, and an expanded DVD is set for release the same day. Yet the testimony and 60 duotones here still speak for themselves. Bringing together more than 40 recollections from the more than 2,000 interviews conducted by the Depression-era WPA, this book acts as a small-scale, superlative introduction to the huge memory repository to be found in libraries and in the recent book-and-audio collection Remembering Slavery, which presents actual WPA slave narrative recordings along with much longer transcriptions. (The WPA's 17-volume set, archived as the Slave Narratives collection, remains available.) After short introductions from Harvard eminence Gates, and Crew and Goodman of the Freedom Center, the editors divide the book into eight chapters ( "Slave Auctions," "Work," "Family," "Living Conditions," "Abuse," "Special Occasions," "The Runaway," "Emancipation"), each with an explanatory introduction, that juxtapose slavery-era photos with the recollections of former slaves, sometimes shown in photos from the time of the interview. With its featured selection by Black Expressions, the BOMC and the History Book Club, this title should do exactly as intended: raise individual awareness of the terrible legacy every citizen a former slave-holding country must carry.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

This book is based on an HBO documentary film (narrated by actor Whoopi Goldberg), that carries the same title and will be released in February 2003. Both the book and the film are, in turn, based on a collection of first-person slave accounts gathered in the late 1930s by interviewers working for the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration. With a foreword by esteemed black-studies scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., this new selection culled from that vast compilation of testimonies brings to contemporary readers an "unequaled portrayal of the slave era" and puts a "human face" on the whole deplorable institution. The narratives themselves, set down in the dialect in which they were spoken, are brief but piquant and sometimes reveal faint glimmers of light in an otherwise dreary if not dangerous existence. The narratives are accompanied by photographs of interviewees taken at the time of the interviews. This is a meaningful book for general readers as well as students and scholars. Be prepared for demand once the HBO show airs. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Bulfinch; Edition Unstated edition (January 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0821228420
• ISBN-13: 978-0821228425
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 8.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #452,614 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Book, February 26, 2003

By 

S. Hudson "Avid Reader" (Tucker, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives (Hardcover)

"...Oh freedom, Oh freedom, Oh freedom over me. And before I'll be a slave, I'll be buried in my grave and go home to my Lord and be free"
__Old Negro Spiritual

The words of the spiritual above must not have been uttered to these beautiful human beings who have graciously allowed interviewers from the 1930's Governments Works Progress Administration to chronicle their life stories. For if the words above had been uttered, the slave experience, from an intimate and painful point of view, would never have received the credence they due. Tales of slavery are still passed down from generation to generation, and traditions still are followed but to see a book like Unchained Memories is special. Quite simply, this is a beautiful book. I'm so thrilled to have been given the opportunity to read it and experience it and learn from it. I can treat the book as a textbook, a factual accounting of the lives of former slaves who have wonderful stories that they don't mind sharing with the world. For that reason alone, this book has earned a permanent place on my coffee table, for all who enter into my house to experience. Something about the actual words of former slaves bound in book form validates an agonizing time in American History.

Unchained Memories is well researched and magnificently laid out. At the beginning of every chapter is an introductory text that accounts for the tenure of the time, followed by a poignant quote and then brief narratives begin. My one regret is that the narratives are so short, when biographers obviously spent a great deal of time with these people. I am grateful that there is an extensive bibliography at the back so that I can, at some point, go and read the entire account by the former slave. Oh where will I find the time? If you read this book, I would highly suggest that you get a copy of the HBO documentary of the same name and watch it as well. There is nothing like "hearing" the words spoken by African American actors of today in the vernacular of the time.

I'm glad that Unchained Memories was published, and quite fittingly made its debut during Black History Month. These former slaves are the reason why Black History Month is perpetuated now and a fitting tribute for remembering from whence we as a nation have come.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional bridging of history and experience, February 16, 2003

By 

Ann (Dix Hills, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives (Hardcover)

An exquisite pictorial and narrative exploration of the institution of American slavery, this book provides readers with the opportunity to experience from personal recollections what it was like to live under conditions of slavery. The text format, an artistic balance of photographs and primary sources, is composed of interviews with former slaves conducted in the 1930s by the Federal Writers' Project. Each chapter focuses on a particular aspect of slave life - auctions, work, family, special occasions, providing a deeply etched portrait of hardships and abuses as well as examples of strength of character and quiet dignity. A worthy addition to one's library!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful historical collection, July 1, 2003

By 

The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers (RAWSISTAZ.com and BlackBookReviews.net) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives (Hardcover)

In this beautiful, historical collection of slave narratives and photographs, we are given a look inside the lives of actual slaves being interviewed as part of a project conducted by the Works Progress Administration. With more than forty interviews, UNCHAINED MEMORIES is a work of art that provides a well-rounded look at the lives of slaves. It includes insight into their living conditions, thoughts about slavery, their families and even the details of actual slave auctions. It is a sometimes sad collection, but much needed to help us understand the progress our ancestors have made in the world.

Through their accounts, we are able to see the pain and suffering as well as the spirit and pride of those born into slavery, learn from it, and pass it along to our children. This is a wonderful resource for not only African American families, but for anyone interested in history and the period of slavery and its impact upon the African American race. It is compiled with the grace and dignity deserving of a people who have been through so much!

Reviewed by Tee C. Royal
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers